


Calm Before the Storm

by Keolah



Series: Stormseeker Saga: Alternate Timelines [14]
Category: Star Wars
Genre: Gen, Jedi, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-14 01:33:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5724511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Keolah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lexen Chelseer, the secret son of Anakin Skywalker, grows up on a farm on Dantooine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Calm Before the Storm

I wake.

Arms warmly cradle my tiny body. "There's my big boy."

"Ga... ma... Mama?" I burble out.

"Yes. Mama!" She smiles. "I'm your mama. You're such a clever boy."

"Mama..."

"Lexen Skywalker Chelseer," Mama says. "I hope you grow up to be strong and powerful like your father. He would be so surprised if he could see you now. He doesn't even know you exist yet. I should go now, though. I'm sorry. You'll be in good hands here."

I feel very, very small.

"Goodbye, my son," Mama says. "Maybe we'll meet again someday. We'll see what path you choose to take."

"Mama?"

"There is no temptation. There is only choice. And don't ever let anyone tell you differently."

Another woman looks into the room. "You aren't trying to turn my grandson to the Dark Side before he can even walk yet, are you?"

Mama looks at her and says flatly, "Mother."

"You know I don't approve of your choices, but you'll always be my daughter just as much as your twin," Grandma says.

Mama says, "And the Jedi Council would disapprove of your choice to live with your family and raise your own children."

"I disagree with the Jedi Council on a great many things," Grandma says. "They would either fight you or try to redeem you. But I will not raise a hand against my own blood, and you will return in your own due time. I can only wish that you could stay now. But I'm glad that you've at least returned to bear your son here."

"His path hasn't been decided yet, though," Mama says.

"And I know which path you'd like him to take."

"You don't understand," Mama says, shaking her head. "You never did. I don't want him to follow my path blindly anymore than I blindly followed yours."

"But you'd still want him to follow."

"I want him to make his own choices."

"Fine," Grandma says in resignation. "You're leaving again?"

"You know as well as I do why I shouldn't stay."

"Mama?" I say plaintively.

"Sorry, Lexen. I'm going now."

Grandma sighs. "I do hope that girl will be alright. She's playing with fire. But enough of that. Let's get you taken care of, little one."

* * *

A silver-eyed Sephi woman comes to visit one year.

"This one has a great destiny ahead of him."

Grandma clears her throat. "Ah, Lexen, meet your cousin, Keolah."

"Um... Hello?" I say uncertainly.

"The Force swirls around him like a raging storm," Keolah says distantly. "Can you not see it, Hawthorne?"

"I don't see the Force with my eyes, Keolah," Grandma says dryly.

"How old is he? Have you begun training him yet?"

"I'm five!" I declare. "And I'm right here!"

"That's not entirely safe given the circumstances."

"He must have guidance if he is ever to achieve his destiny," Keolah insists.

"They're hunting down and killing any Jedi they can find."

Keolah takes in a deep breath and raised her eyes toward the ceiling. "The Stormseeker is here! Child of the stars, blood of the dragons, countless deaths will litter his path, but bears the hope of a thousand worlds. He will be our only hope and our greatest fear."

I stare at her. "What?"

"Keolah," Hawthorne interjected. "What in the Force does any of that even mean?"

"He carries on his shoulders the weight of a thousand regrets," Keolah continues, ignoring us. "His soul reaches out to the Nexus of the universe. He is our doom and our salvation."

"Sorry, Lexen, I think she's feeling nonsensical and pretentious today."

"Yeah, I see that," I say, wide-eyed.

Keolah goes on, "He will need guidance, but we cannot guide him. He--"

A grin crosses Hawthorne's face and she gestures toward the hallway door. "Hey, there's two other children in the house."

"Oh!" Keolah brightens. "They are the offspring of the Daughter of the Forest, even as the Stormseeker is the scion of the Daughter of the Mountains?"

"Yeah, their names are Helga and Hilda," Hawthorne says, not batting an eye at the titles.

"The twin suns!" Keolah declares. "The Speaker of the Water and the Speaker of the Wind!" She continues to rant as she wanders off to find the girls.

"Well," Hawthorne said. "That was something."

"Is she always like this?" I wonder.

"Not all the time. Sometimes it seems like she's not even paying attention at all."

"What did she mean, dragons?"

"Oh, there's this old story that says our family comes from dragons. A fine enough story, if biologically impossible. We're not lizards."

"Bio-what?" I say with feigned ignorance.

"Oh, it's like, well, two people can make a baby. But they have to be like one another."

"Is that where babies come from?" This might be frustrating if I didn't find it so amusing to pretend to be a normal five year old.

* * *

"Who is my father, really?" I ask.

"His name was Anakin Skywalker," Grandma tells me.

"Was?" I wonder. "Did something happen to him?"

"It's complicated" Grandma replies with a sigh. "And too complicated to explain to an eight year old."

"Too complicated, or do you just not want me to know?"

"This isn't like where babies come from."

"Did he die?" I ask.

"It's be easier to just say he's dead, but I'm not going to lie to my grandson."

"Is he a criminal?" I ask excitedly. "A spice smuggler? A pirate?"

Grandma sighs longsufferingly. "And I'd rather not get ideas in your head about romanticizing bad behavior, either."

"So it's be easier to just tell me and not leave me to keep wondering."

"Fine. Your father became Darth Vader. And he has killed a lot of people, crushed the Jedi Order, and destroyed everything the Republic stood for."

I deflate. "Oh... How did you find out it was him?"

"Your mother told us. I don't know what her involvement is in all this, and I don't think I want to know."

"So why didn't you want to tell me?"

"It's not a good thing for a child to grow up with, having things so dark hanging over you."

"It's okay," I assure her. "I can take it."

"And children tend to look up to their parents," Grandma says. "I really don't want to lose another child to the Dark Side."

"But you didn't really lose my mother."

"I indulged her. Maybe I shouldn't have. I don't see her much. She doesn't talk to me much. Not anymore."

Grandma sighs. The Jedi Order taught that a good Jedi should stay calm, and not hold grudges or allow emotions to interfere. And all the while, they were hypocrites themselves."

"Hypo-whats?"

"I shouldn't badmouth them, though. They tried. They tried to do right. They tried to do good. They just didn't know how, sometimes."

"Well, I want to do good," I say. "I want everyone to be safe and happy and free."

Grandma chuckles and smiles. "It's a nice thought, isn't it? Sometimes you have to settle for two out of three, though."

* * *

In the morning sunlight outside my family's farmstead, a man in black robes stands.

"What have we here? A little Jedi bratling?"

"Who are you?" I ask suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

"What, did they not tell you about me?" he asks, grinning maliciously. "Well, allow me to rectify that for you, then, before you die, so that you may know the face of the one who ended you. I am Sedder the Shadow."

"What!? Die? Who the hell do you think you are? My grandmother Hawthorne will come and stop you!"

"I fought your grandmother, Hawthorne, and beat her in a fair duel. And for that, they humiliated me and exiled me."

"You... shit."

"Tsk tsk, such language, what are you, ten, eleven?"

"No matter." Dark tendrils swirl about his hand. "I'm here to get my revenge, and slaughter these Jedi. Did you really think you could hide forever?"

He means to kill me. No mercy. No compromise.

I rush into the house and lock the front door behind me, for the few moments it's likely to hold him. I have to find my grandma. He said he'd beat her before, but she's my best hope here.

The door crashes open behind me.

"Sedder?" yells Grandma. "I will _kill_ you!"

Sedder cackles. "Yes, give in to the Dark Side! Let your anger--"

"Oh, can it," Grandma says. "Lexen, make a break for it. I'll hold him off."

"You really think he can escape?" Sedder says. "I will find him wherever he goes."

I run down the hallway. Behind me, I hear my aunt Thelsa joining the fray. Maybe with two on one, they'll take Sedder down. I stop to collect my cousins. I won't leave Helga and Hilda behind. They're younger than me, and terrified. My heart pounds as I try to calm them down and get them to the landspeeder in back.

"What's going on?" Helga asks.

"Will mama be okay?" Hilda asks.

"Come on, into the speeder, it'll be okay," I try to assure them.

I get them into the back and put myself in front of the controls clumsily.

"You can drive one of these?" Helga admonishes.

"Nope, but I've gotta try!"

I have no idea what I'm doing and can't even get the thing started. A crack of lightning blows out the engine behind me.

"Did you really think you could get away?" Sedder asks.

"I don't know, but I had to try."

"So, three little bratlings, all in a row. Are you siblings, or cousins? No matter. I'll take care of you, one by one."

"Sedder!" I cry.

"You there, boy," Sedder says, turning to me. "How would you like to watch your sisters suffer before they die slowly?"

I growl, and launch myself at him. It's hopeless, of course. Shadowy tendrils spring out of nowhere and hold me in place, as well as the twins. The twins. Screaming. They're nine, damn it! _Nine_! They shouldn't have to die like this!

" _Fuck you, Sedder!_ "

No, no, no. This isn't happening. This can't be happening. I close my eyes, but I can't close my ears. I can't shut out the sound of their screams. Tears come to my eyes unbidden.

"Aw, they didn't take nearly as much as I hoped they might," Sedder drawls. "Ah, well. It's your turn, boy. Are you ready to die?"

"Fuck you. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" I scream.

"Such language. Let's see how long you last? How that spirit of yours will hold out against life drain?"

As his dark tendrils tighten around my body and threaten to drain my strength away, I cry out wordlessly in defiance. _Don't let it end like this_.

The Force seems so close in my swirling vision, like I could reach out and touch it without effort. Maybe the Dark Side could strike him down with anger and hate, but the only thing that comes to mind is to flee in fear. _Anywhere but here!_

The world twists and fades around me, and when my vision clears, I find myself somewhere else entirely.


End file.
